Unwanted but not Unloved
by Broken-Wings101
Summary: Being born into a family renown for belonging in Slytherin is hard… It's even harder when you don't belong there yourself. It's hard being a Slytherin who's in Gryffindor. My name is Celeste and I'm the first Malfoy to ever be sorted into Gryffindor… Rated T to be safe
1. Chapter 1

**AN – I do not own Harry Potter or any of the other characters I only own Celeste. JKR owns everything and I am not her. I'm putting this chapter out to get an idea as to whether the story will interest people. I'm slowly working out a plan of what to write for it so bear with me please.**

CHAPTER 1 – The story begins

Being born into a family renown for belonging in Slytherin is hard… It's even harder when you don't belong there yourself. It's hard being a Slytherin who's in Gryffindor. My name is Celeste and I'm the first Malfoy to ever be sorted into Gryffindor…  
I was born the 13th April 1979, one year before Draco. From the day I was born two things were drilled into me, the first of these being that purebloods ruled the Wizarding world and the second, that muggleborns, or mudbloods as some people called them, were scum and unsafe to be around. My parents Narcissa and Lucius were not affectionate towards myself or Draco, but we never had a bad childhood. It was dictated by my father that, as a girl, the only thing I needed to know was proper etiquette. Meanwhile Draco learned everything as a child from basic duelling to how to elevate social status and wealth as he got older. As we grew up, my father expressed an interest in sending us away to do our schooling. In particular he wanted me to go to the Beauxbatons Academy for magic, as he believed I would learn to be a proper lady there, and he wished for Draco to go to Durmstrang, an academy for Dark Arts. Mother disagreed, not wishing for her children to go to schools so far away from home. Therefore, on September the 1st I waved goodbye to my family and boarded the Hogwarts express, promising to send my owl, Amadeus, with a list of the other girls in Slytherin. As the train gathered speed and my parents slowly faded from view, I wandered the train looking for the girls I had grown up with. In particular Daphne Greengrass, the daughter of an old family friend whom my parents hoped to marry Draco to one day. After 10 minutes of searching, I gave up and found an empty compartment for myself. Shortly after I sat down, two identical faces appeared at the door with mischievous grins.  
"Hi, I'm Fred." said the one on the right.  
"And I'm George." said the other. I knew instantly who the red headed boys were; Weasley's.  
"Hello, I'm Celeste. This is my first year." I replied politely.  
"Ahhh..." said Fred.  
"An ickle firstie." finished George.  
Fred and George spent the entire train ride with me, and while I knew what my father would say about me spending time with blood traitors it was nice to have people to talk to. So for the entire journey, I said not one word regarding my family or my future at Hogwarts. I was just Celeste to them. We arrived at Hogwarts in no time at all and after sailing to Hogwarts on little boats, with Hagrid the half giant, we were greeted by Professor McGonagall, head of my future house and the Deputy Headmistress;  
"Good evening and welcome to Hogwarts, shortly we shall pass through these doors," she gestured behind her, "and begin the sorting. For those of you who don't know there are four houses; Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin."  
She then asked us to sort ourselves into two single file lines while she made sure they were ready for us. Fortunately I finally found Daphne,  
"Celeste," she sneered. "We missed you on the train."  
"Oh," I whispered. "I spent the ride on my own, I couldn't find you guys." Daphne nodded slowly, as she changed the subject.  
"I can't wait to go down to the Slytherindormitory and get away from all of this." she gestured behind us to the crowd. I nodded, my best pureblood smile plastered to my face. McGonagall led us into the Great Hall, where she placed a stool and a hat on the steps and explained what it was for. Next thing I knew she had called the first name.  
"Anderson, Vanessa."  
A small girl with brown hair ran forward and tried on the hat, after a few minutes it called out Gryffindor and she joined the cheering Gryffindor table. I tuned out until I heard,  
"Greengrass, Daphne."  
"See you in Slytherin." She whispered and sure enough the hat barely touched her head before it screamed,  
"SLYTHERIN!"  
A bunch of scared looking girls became Hufflepuff's, and then it was my turn,  
"Malfoy, Celeste."  
As I stepped out of the crowd towards the stool, I'm sure I heard a couple of faint gasps coming from the Gryffindor table. As the hat was placed on my head I began to worry, surely I should be placed straight into Slytherin, just like Daphne. Right?  
"Hmmm, another Malfoy. But you're different aren't you?" This absolutely terrified me; I couldn't be different. I was a Malfoy, pure and great.  
"No, I'm not different, I'm a Slytherin."  
"Ahhh... My dear that is where I come in, you see I sense honesty in you. I also see intelligence and bravery." I gulped silently; I could feel the stares of the Slytherins boring into me.  
"Good luck dear, better be… GRYFFINDOR!"  
Deafening silence fell over the Hall; I knew why of course. A Malfoy in Gryffindor was unheard of. I sat frozen in place, the word Gryffindor replaying in my head. What would father say? He would be so disappointed in me. Eventually McGonagall had to come and ask me to move. Where was the bravery that the sorting hat saw in me, I definitely didn't feel brave. I felt completely and utterly petrified. I staggered over to the Gryffindor table, tears pooling in my eyes.  
"How could you not tell us, Miss Malfoy?" The twins asked, smiling, while I just stared blankly, unable to say anything at all. Shrugging, they dug into the food that appeared as the sorting ended, while I sat there, continuing to stare at everyone as they animatedly chatted away, clearly trying to avoid me. I think they all saw me as some sort of evil spy for the Slytherins.

The next morning I contemplated just not going to breakfast, the other girls in my dormitory already hated me. However my stomach protested that decision, so I decided to brave the throngs of people. It was at my own peril though, as during the morning post I noticed a familiar looking eagle owl. My stomach lurched when I realized it was Ames, my mother's owl, and I very nearly vomited when I saw the red envelope. The table turned to look at me as it exploded;  
"Celeste Titania Malfoy!" bellowed my father's voice. "How dare you get yourself sorted into Gryffindor! Your mother and I are extremely disappointed with you! We will be at Hogwarts at 12pm, you will be there, or else!" As my father's final words echoed throughout the Great Hall, the howler exploded and turned to ash. I placed my head in my hands unable to stop tears flooding my eyes. I heard someone step behind me and felt a hand rubbing my back.  
"Celeste? Are you alright?'  
"No," I retorted, "do I look alright?" As I finished the sentence I turned back to see who it was; it was George! Seeing him made the tears flow freer and faster as my guilty conscience took over. I had just snapped at the only two people willing to talk to me.  
Taken a back George said, "Ce, don't worry Fred and I will help you and we will be your friends no matter what happens." The tears continued at an increasing speed, and George looked at me worried;  
"Celeste? Are you ok?"  
Nodding, I smiled weakly, "You called me Ce, I've never had a nickname before."  
And with that, the two of them burst into laughter.

I stood in the Entrance Hall waiting and as the clock struck noon, I watched the doors of the Hall open and my father stride towards me, my mother following along behind.  
"Mother!" I cried as I saw her. My father just glared at me before striding away towards Professor Dumbledore's office. I watched in terror as the gargoyles stepped aside allowing my father access. I felt bile rising as we entered his office and all I could see was the sorting hat smirking at me. The need to vomit grew as my father asked for me to be re-sorted.  
"Certainly Mr Malfoy, your daughter may be re-sorted, however I cannot promise that she will be placed in a new house." Dumbledore placed the hat on my head, and I shuddered as the small, gruff voice filled my ears.  
"You're back? I hope you know I never change my mind. I put you in Gryffindor and that is where you shall stay. Gryffindor!" The hat called for the benefit of my parents. Without even seeing him, I could tell my father was furious; he marched up to me and pulled the hat off my head. He then began to shake me, as if he could remove the Gryffindor that way.  
"What is wrong with you? You are supposed to be a Malfoy. Malfoy's do not belong in Gryffindor." Professor Dumbledore stepped forward to intervene and stop my father from actually hurting me.  
"Mr Malfoy! I'm afraid that there is nothing we can do. Your daughter is a Gryffindor, you should be proud of that." My father looked Professor Dumbledore in the eye and calmly stated,  
"She is no daughter of mine." He then stormed from the room dragging my sobbing mother behind him. I felt my eyes fill with tears but I couldn't move. It was a repeat of the sorting ceremony all over again, I was frozen with fear. I didn't belong in Gryffindor, Gryffindor's weren't scared of anything. I couldn't even stand up to my own father, let alone face the entire school again. I remember hearing the door to Professor Dumbledore's office open again, and I also remember a kindly woman telling me to relax and take a sip of the potion. After that my memories go black until the next morning when I awoke in my dormitory. My second morning at Hogwarts and I was alone, I had no one to confide in. No one to tell my fears to, and, most importantly I had no family anymore; no one to love me unconditionally. All I wanted to do was curl up in my bed and cry, but I steeled myself, I wasn't going to do that. I was going to stand up for myself and work hard. I would make my father wish he had never disowned me.  
I entered the Great Hall as my mother taught me. I would fit into Gryffindor if it was the last thing I did. I could feel the glares of the Slytherin's as I made my way to the Gryffindor table with my head held high. No matter how much I wanted to join them and just be the daughter that my father wished for, I knew I was in Gryffindor for a reason. A loud voice pulled me from my thoughts.  
"Hey Ce, come sit with us?" I stopped and smiled, maybe I did have friends after all.

**AN: A review would be great. Just to see what I'm doing right or wrong. I know it's short, I'm sorry about that.**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Wow thanks so much for all of the wonderful interest in this story. So this chapter jumps forward a bit and I'm considering using a few flashbacks to previous years throughout the story. So sorry it's taken me so long to post this, I've been trying to get a few chapters banked so I can post more regularly.**

CHAPTER 2 – Life goes on

There was no maybe about it. I definitely had friends, even if they were a year older than me and possibly the craziest friends a girl could have. Being friends with the Weasley twins certainly had its surprises. Like the time that I found them attempting to sneak into the girl's dormitories for some reason unbeknownst to me. In saying that they were exceptionally good at making me laugh; it was near impossible to be sad or angry around those two. So for the first year or so it was just us; nearly inseparable we did everything together. That was of course until I came across a girl in my year crying in an abandoned classroom; apparently she had been tormented by several older Slytherins for being a muggleborn. It was almost automatic to take her with me and introduce her to Fred and George. So for the next four years it was the four of us; me, George, Fred, and Vanessa, we were a group of misfits and that was what made it special. This year is going to be different though, as it's mine and Vanessa's final year at Hogwarts, however it is also our first year without the twins there too. So I'm going to miss them terribly.

I sat up in bed, breathing heavily, a cold sweat running down my face from my nightmare. I could still hear those words, the words that still kill me inside. I heard heavy footsteps outside and someone on the other side flung the door open; it was Mr. and Mrs. Anderson and Vanessa. Ever since second year, I had been living with Vanessa's family. They had basically taken me on as a second daughter, and I loved them as if they were my own parents.  
"Are you okay?" she queried, her voice full of concern, "We heard you scream." I nodded slowly,  
"I'm fine; it was just my Hogwarts dream again." Relief washed over Ness' face as she realised and understood what I was talking about. She turned to her parents,  
"Don't worry mum and dad, I can handle Lessie. You guys go back to bed." Her mum turned to me,  
"Are you sure Celeste? John and I are happy to stay with you if you aren't comfortable being alone."  
"No thank you Mrs. Anderson. I'll be fine." I replied smiling at her. She sighed and nodded, not totally convinced that I was fine. As she and Mr. Anderson turned to leave, I distinctly heard her say,  
"How many times have I told her to call me Francine?" As soon as her parents were out of earshot Ness turned to me,  
"Alright Lessie, what's going on?" I was surprised at how genuinely concerned she sounded especially due to the number of times at school that I'd woke her up with my screams.  
"Nessie, it was the same nightmare as always." I replied, my face impassive.  
"Yes Lessie, back when we were like 12. You haven't had that dream in years."  
"It's always the same; it starts off in my bedroom back at Malfoy Manor…"  
_'I'm lying on my bed reading a book, when my father walks in. He never says anything; he just looks at me, his eyes full of scorn. I ask him politely why he is in my room. I get no reply and he continues to stare at me. The room dissolves and suddenly I'm kneeling on the steps in the Great Hall at Hogwarts, my father sitting in Dumbledore's chair; glaring at me. Guards grip my arms and begin to drag me down the hall_  
_"Father!" I cry out, struggling. _  
_"Take her away," he tells the guards, "she is no daughter of mine."_ I burst into tears, and Ness hugged me tightly.  
"Shush, it's ok. It's not real. I'm here for you always." She rubbed my back lightly and allowed me to sob loudly into her shoulder. After a bit a minute or so, I pulled away,  
"Thank you Ness. You truly are the best friend a girl could have. Oh dear, I'm sorry I've ruined your shirt." I whispered pointing at the large stain on her shoulder. Vanessa leaned forward and wiped the last remnants of tears from my eyes,  
"My shirt isn't important Lessie, honestly." She told me smiling softly, "Now I think we both should try and get some sleep, don't you?" I nodded and we both cuddled down underneath the blankets on my bed, holding on to each other as if our lives depended on it.

The Anderson household was extremely quiet the next morning, Ness's parents were tip toeing around me as if I might burst into tears at any point and her younger brothers Logan and Tom were watching me closely, obviously they had heard my scream last night. Eventually I couldn't take it anymore, and I nudged Ness, indicating I wanted to go out.  
"Mum, Dad, Lessie and I are going to do the last of our…" I dragged her away before she could even finish her sentence.  
"Let's just go." I hissed, they didn't really need to know where we were going, after all we were both 17 and about to start our final year at Hogwarts, technically we were adults in the Wizarding World. She grabbed my hand and turned on the spot. However instead of taking us to Diagon Alley like I hoped she would, we were standing, or rather Vanessa was standing and I was collapsed on the ground, outside the Burrow.  
"Uh, why are we here?" I asked dusting myself off.  
"To see the terrible two, duh." She replied as if I was being completely stupid. I sighed,  
"You do remember that they moved out at the end of last year don't you?" Ness giggled,  
"Oh that's right silly me." Without another word she had again grabbed my hand and turned on the spot, this time I was slightly more prepared and managed to keep my balance so instead of falling I simply stumbled. At least she had the right address this time and we weren't going to have to go through it again.  
"You seriously have got to stop doing that!"  
"Sorry Less, but you know you want to see them as much as I do." She stepped forward and rang the bell outside their door. After a couple of minutes the door opened and a freckle faced man with flaming red hair popped his head out the door surrounded by a cloud of smoke.  
"Now isn't really…" He trailed off when he realized who we were, "Nessie, Lessie, come in, come in. To what do we owe this lovely surprise?" Before I could say anything, Ness butted in with,  
"Fred, Celeste had her nightmare again." His face dropped,  
"I'll get George." He was gone before I could say anything.  
I knew that what happened next was going to bring out the serious side of the twins. That wasn't my favourite side of them, especially not when it came to matters about myself. I much preferred my idiotic best friends who did silly things like last year when they left Hogwarts with a bang, literally. Fireworks in the shape of dragons which destroyed every single one of our then Headmistress Professor Umbridge's Educational Decrees, thank god for that. Luckily Umbridge was gone and Professor Dumbledore was back. I heard a shout and a loud bang followed by the sound of running footsteps. Next thing I knew a pair of strong arms had encircled me and I was lifted off the floor.  
"Now don't lie to me Celeste Titania Malfoy. What happened last night?" Something in George's voice told me not to mess with him.  
"I had my nightmare about my father again." I admitted, trying to avoid eye contact. I knew that if I didn't, I would burst into tears. George set me back down on the ground and sighed,  
"But Ce you haven't had that dream for almost 5 years. Why now?" I gulped; I guess I actually had to tell them, they could always tell when I was lying.  
"Well um, my mother owled me a few days ago, and well, last night I… um… I opened it." Ness' mouth dropped and Fred was staring at me like I had gone crazy, but it was George's reaction that worried me. His whole face had gone grey in colour and his eyes were completely dark, I was beginning to get scared.  
"What did it say?" He muttered so low I couldn't hear.  
"I said… What Did It Say?" He exploded at me, and I shrank away from him, he was really scaring me now. When he noticed what his reaction had done to me his expression immediately softened and he sighed regretfully.  
"Please Ce; I need to know why you had that nightmare." I nodded slowly before taking a deep breath; this was going to be hard to explain. There was no way that they would understand properly.  
"Remember how Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna, and Ginny put my father in Azkaban at the end of last year?" Ness and the twins nodded, how could they not remember? It was absolutely heartbreaking for Harry when Sirius died in the process. "Well, apparently mother finally feels free enough from my father's control to talk to me. Basically the letter said how sorry she was and that she missed me. She wants me to come and visit over Christmas break this year." I paused; they weren't going to like what I said next, "I think I'm going to go see her." That was the final straw for George, he completely lost it.  
"No! There is no way that you are going there! The idea of it is already giving you nightmares; can you even imagine what actually being there might do?"He looked to Ness and Fred for support, and smiled slightly when he saw them nodding in agreement to what he had said. I sighed once more,  
"George… She's my mother. As much as I might want to, I can't hate her. At least she seemed slightly upset when father disowned me. So please don't make this any harder for me than it already is. My mind is made up, I'm going." George stared at me for what felt like an eternity before he simply turned and walked away. I took a deep breath, tears pricking my eyes once again. I couldn't understand why he couldn't just be happy for me; at least Ness and Fred were trying to be supportive of me, even if they didn't agree with my decision.  
"It'll be ok Lessie. You've just got to give him some time to calm down. He'll come round, don't worry." Fred smiled and wrapped his arms around me in a suffocating hug. I shrugged halfheartedly; my life didn't need to revolve around George freaking Weasley!

September 1st arrived quickly this year, maybe a bit too quickly for my liking. Somehow Ness had managed to convince her parents that we didn't need a chaperone to the train station, clearly she had left out the small detail about You-Know-Who being back at large. We arrived at the train station with only minutes to spare, the whistle going just as we climbed aboard the train.  
"You know I never did understand why seventh years can't just apparate to Hogsmeade? Surely it would be easier?" Ness asked as we walked past a third consecutive full compartment. I just shrugged, not really in the mood for her random thoughts. George and I had barely said two words to one another since he stormed out on us when I made my announcement, and I hated the idea of going to Hogwarts without mending things with my best friend.  
When we eventually found a compartment to sit in, I sighed, it seemed like there were more students this year than there had been any other year before. I guess Dumbledore had always said that there was no safer place than Hogwarts.  
Our train journey passed relatively uneventfully, supposedly some new teacher was on the train and was holding a tea party for specific students however it seemed to just be a rumour. At one point Ness got fed up with my shrugging and grunting in response to her questions and she finally snapped.  
"What is going on with you Celeste? I'm trying to talk to you, but you seem to be stuck in your own world!" She huffed, before marching out of the compartment. After that it was just me alone with my thoughts. I became so wrapped up in them that I had a mad panicked rush to get my robes on before we had to get off the train. Up in the Great Hall I managed to find Ness and mutter a quick apology, which she ignored, before McGonagall marched in followed by a large group of nervous looking first years. I half expected to feel George nudge me in the ribs and whisper something about the first years being smaller than usual, but when I glanced sideways I was painfully reminded of the lack of Weasley twins. I sighed rather dramatically; this year really was going to be hard.  
The sorting nearly passed without problem, and I felt myself finally begin to relax. The only hiccup was Harry being late to the feast and covered in blood, not really anything new there though. Hogwarts was my only true home, the place where I could be myself. It wasn't until the end of the welcome feast that problems began to arise. Of course I just had to bump into Draco; he just couldn't leave me alone.  
"Celeste." He smirked, "Still besmirching the family name I see. Where are those blood traitors you call friends? They ditched you too? What about that little mudblood? Still living with her and her dirty family?" I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of replying, but hearing him talk about Ness like that made my blood boil. No matter how mad Ness was at me, she was still my best friend and best friends stick up for one another. My fist flew out and connected with Draco's face,  
"Oh baby brother, you never learn, do you? Insulting people doesn't make them like you." I turned to walk away, only to bump into none other than Professor Snape.  
"Fighting in the hallways, on the very first night? How very muggle of you. 20 points from Gryffindor and detention tomorrow night." He sneered, before snapping at the quickly forming crowd.  
"Clear off. Unless you wish to join Miss Malfoy in detention?" Well that's just great, detention on my first night back. Why didn't I just walk away, why did I have to be so rash?


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Thank you so much to those who read the last chapter. I'm as surprised as you that this chapter came so quickly, thank Oliver Boyd and the Remembralls. Their music got me into a writing frenzy :)  
As always, I do not own this. If I did then Sirius, Remus, Fred and Tonks would still be alive.**

CHAPTER 3 – Lost and Lonely

Waking up the next morning reminded me somewhat of my very first morning at Hogwarts 6 years ago. For some reason Ness was still refusing to talk to me. I didn't understand how being caught up in thoughts about possibly having lost one of my best friends would have annoyed her so much. There was definitely something else going on here, and I desperately needed to figure out what it was.  
The Great Hall was abuzz with the usual start of term activity and noise. I spotted Ness sitting at the Gryffindor table on her own, hoping for the best I decided that now was the best time to join her and discover what was wrong. As I slid in beside her she pushed away her goblet of pumpkin juice and half eaten toast before flouncing away from the table. I didn't get it. What had I done wrong? My confusion was short lived as a short sharp voice brought me back.  
"Miss Malfoy, you are cutting it very fine to make it to your first class." My timetable landed on the table and I realised McGonagall was right. I had 2 minutes to make it to Charms with Flitwick. Launching myself back from the table, nearly wiping out a couple of first years in the process, I sprinted towards the stairs. Taking the stairs two at a time I made it to Charms with only seconds to spare.  
"Good morning class," the tiny Professor squeaked. "Welcome back to N.E.W.T. level Charms. As you know we have much to cover this year, so if you would please open your books to page 58 and begin reading."  
Flipping my book open I stared blankly at the page allowing my mind to wander.

"_Good morning first years, I am Professor Flitwick and I will be guiding you on your spell casting journey through Hogwarts." Squeaked the dwarfish Professor from atop his pile of books. "As a start, who can describe the difference between a hex and a jinx?"  
A few tentative hands hovered in the air, either nobody knew the answer or nobody wanted to be seen as knowing the answer. With an overwhelming need to prove myself I thrust my hand into the air.  
"There is no real difference sir. A hex and a jinx are both just more playful forms of darker magic; often used to play pranks on others." Professor Flitwick nodded happily.  
"Very good Miss Malfoy, 5 points to Slyth… I mean Gryffindor." I smiled proudly, refusing to allow Flitwick's near automatic response of Slytherin to annoy me. I knew I could do this. I could be a Malfoy in Gryffindor._

"Miss Malfoy? Did you hear me?"  
I could hear the sniggers of other classmates as Professor Flitwick tried to get my attention. Clearly he had noticed that I wasn't totally there.  
"Sorry Professor. I got a bit caught up in my thoughts. What did you ask me?"  
"I asked if you would please demonstrate the geminio charm on the pillow in front of you..." I smiled happily, I had mastered geminio back in 5th year. "… Non-verbally." My smile quickly faded, I hadn't read any of the text from the book so I hoped I was doing it right. Chanting the incantation in my head I waved my wand. Nothing happened so I tried again. Nothing, again.  
"5 points from Gryffindor for failing to pay attention and not reading the material assigned." I sighed audibly, today was just not my day.

I collapsed onto my bed. Today had been the longest day in forever. Without Ness to talk to every class had dragged for what felt like days; on top of that I was completely distracted and incapable of paying attention in nearly every class. I think I lost more house points today than I've ever lost in an entire year.  
"Damn you George Weasley. This is all your fault!" I screamed into my pillow even though I knew deep down that he was only trying to protect me. It's not his fault that I'm like a sister to him. I decided it was better to hide up here than face my house at dinner; by now most of them will have seen the lost house points and word will have travelled that I lost them.  
"Damn you Vanessa!" I screamed again. I was still completely bewildered as to what I had missed on the train. I blinked back tears at the loss of two friendships in the course of two months, what was wrong with me?

I opened my eyes to find Ginny Weasley shaking me.  
"Celeste, I've been looking everywhere for you. Professor Snape sent me after you didn't show up for your detention. He's threatening a whole month if you're not there in 5 minutes."  
I sat bolt upright. I had totally forgotten about my detention for punching Draco. I didn't even remember falling asleep. Leaping off my bed, I grabbed my shoes and sprinted out the dormitory and down the stairs, praying to Merlin that I would make it to the dungeons in 5 minutes. I really didn't need a month of detentions although I will probably lose more points for being late. This day really couldn't get any worse.

I made it to the dungeons with seconds to spare and breathing heavily from my 7 floor sprint.  
"Miss Malfoy. What a pleasure. Enjoy your dinner did you? Nice leisurely stroll down here? 20 points from Gryffindor for your tardiness." Snape was certainly not pleased to see me. "Tonight you are going to clean the back 3 cauldrons. My first year class decided not to listen to instructions and their cauldrons exploded all over the ceiling. I'm sure it will be nice and dry now."  
I sighed again; more lost points. I just didn't see how my day could get worse, at least until I reached the cauldron explosion. Snape wasn't kidding, the stuff was like cement, what on Earth were they making to get it to explode like that.

I arrived back in the dormitory 4 hours later with a stiff back and aching shoulders. I couldn't believe that Snape had made me work past midnight and not allow me to use my wand to clean some of the toughest stuff off the ceiling. Of course all of the girls in my dorm were fast asleep, all except Ness. Where was she? I hadn't seen her as I made my way back to Gryffindor tower, hiding from Filch and Peeves. It's nearly impossible to go anywhere after about 10pm. changing into my pyjamas I could hear a funny noise coming from the bathroom. It sounded as though someone was being sick, that had to be where Ness was. I debated not going in to see her, after all she seemed to be avoiding me like the plague these days but after hearing a sob followed by more retching, I knew I had to do something. Knocking on the door I gently pushed it open and slowly walked in.  
"Ness? Vanessa? Are you okay? Do I need to get Madam Pomfrey?"  
I heard more sobbing from the end cubicle followed by the flush of a toilet. The door opened and an extremely pale and shaky Vanessa emerged from the cubicle looking visibly shaken at the thought of fetching the matron.  
"There's no point Lessie, she'll just tell me what I already know. What I tried to tell you on the train."  
"Ness… What's going on?" Vanessa let out one last sob before looking me straight in the eye. She knew I was listening this time.  
"Celeste, I'm pregnant."


End file.
